Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 202, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1920 — Page 2

“SHOOTING AT THE MOON”: Verne - Schroeder-Goddard

by Robert H. Moulton

authorized /I by the Smithsonian InstituI tion th»t Prof. Robert H. V I Goddard of Clark college fir U has Invented and tested a I new type of multiple-charge, A efficiency rocket of an enI tirely new design, for ex- ■' ploring the unknown regions of the upper air. will recall the two adventurers in Jules Verne’s novel, “De la Terre a la Lune" (1865). Of course “A Trip From the Earth to the Moon” was a literary Joke, so to apeak, but it was no more so than Verne’s "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" —all of which came true a few years later with the submarine. Then here Is Maj. R. W. Schroeder of Chicago, chief test pilot at McCook field, who flew up 36,020 feet the other day, said to be 5,020 feet higher than man ever ascended before. He says he’s going higher next time. Anyway, the claim is made for the rocket that It will not only be possible to send it to the layers of air beyond the earth’s atmosphere, but even to the moon itself. Briefly, the principle involved in this latest space-demolishing marvel is that of multiple discharge. The rocket leaves the earth under force of an explosion in the lowest of a series of chambers loaded with smokeless powder. After reaching a certain altitude chamber No. 2 is shot, giving impetus for a few more thousand feet upward. Then, nt accurately timed and measured Intervals, there are further discharges. which spur the rocket on its way. The atmosphere surrounding the earth extends outward about two hundred miles, while thus far the highest level reached by recording instruments is 19 miles. Rockets such as are used as signals of distress nt sea have a range of only a quarter of a mile, with the highest point of trajectory less than five hundred feet. Their initial speed is about 1,000 feet per second, while that of Prof. Goddard records 8,000 feet per second. This. Incidentally, is the most rapid velocity In practical use, the muzzle velocity of projectiles from the greatest guns being only about 3.000 feet per second. The most important feature of the new device is that it includes a nozzle, constructed of the toughest steel, through which the gas is ejected. This concentrates the force, instead of its being dissipated in the air, as in the old types.

It Is argued that when the rocket emerges from the earth’s atmosphere a vacuum will be encountered in the upper regions, in which exploding gases will lose their power of propulsion. Experiments by Prof. Goddard have demonstrated this feature is no drawback. He fired his rocket in a tank from which the air was drawn, and found greater efficiency in the matter of propulsion than in the air. The quantity of powder required has been calculated. The experimenter takes one pound as his unit mass, and to send this up 1,228.000 feet 9.8 pounds are needed, and to reach beyond the earth’s influence of attraction only 1,274 pounds initial mass. When once the influence of gravitation, or rhe earth’s attraction, has been passed, the rocket theoretically goes forward through space at a uniform speed—through infinite space—and eternity. unless it should bump Its head against some distant star, or encounter a flying meteor or body of atmosphere out somewhere in ether. Naturally the curious will ask: “How are you going to know when you score a hit on Luna?” Professor Goddard has worked out this feature by exper-

Crack Drive Off the Tee

Golfers have their differences like other sportsmen. Up to the present the question as to the distance of a crack drive, off the tee, for example, remains unsettled. By dint of careful m«w<urpment r it is asserted that 200 yards is a very good drive, and that Jt is only the crack players who' can cover the 250. Two hundred and fifty yards Is. however, a very long distance, and just about twice as fax as

intent. He proposes to aim at the dark area of our satellite and in the nose of his rocket place a large charge of flash powder, which will be Ignited by. impact. The flare of this can be observed by powerful telescopes on the earth. But. remark the skeptical, how does he know at what distance flashes of magnesium powder can be seen? He knows, as he knows other details, by exact experiments and mathematical calculations based on them. Briefly, his experiment consisted of exploding a given quantity of flash powder in a glass tube, from which the air had been drawn. The exact quantity was weighed and measured, and the resultant flash was observable at, say, two miles. From this he ..could figure just how much would be required to make light enough on the dark side of the moon so that It could be noted on the earth with the proper kind of telescope.

Professor Goddard’s experiments with flash powder demonstrated that if the powder were exploded on the surface of the moon, distant 220,000 miles, and n telescope of one foot aperture were used —the exit pupil being not greater than the pupil of the eye—we should need a mass flash of 2.67 pounds to be just visible, and 13.82 pounds or less to be strikingly visible. The quantity required could, of course, be much reduced by the employment of a larger telescope. For example, with an aperture of two feet, the masses would be reduced to onefourth of those just given. The use of such a large telescope would, however, limit considerably the possible number of observers. In all cases, says Professor Goddard, the magnification should be so low that the entire lunar disk is in the field of the telescope. Another facto? is presented in the form of itinerant meteors. One of these might come in contact with the rocket and an expensive experiment would be shattered. Professor Goddard has looked into the subject of meteors and found that the probability of collision Is negligible. Sir Isaac Newton estimates that the average distance apart of meteors is 250 miles, so that with the vast areas of space it is fairly safe to conclude that a rocket traveling 220.000 miles is not likely to have an unpleasant encounter enroute. The subject of meteors suggests another difficulty In connection with the rocket as a. means of observing the upper strata of the air. It is popularly known that when meteors strike the earth they do so with such force as to be imbedded often 16 to 20 feet in the soil. Should they strike water or a harder substance than soil, they are virtually vaporized by the terrible Impact. Now when the observation rocket comes down from Its lofty flight, would It not be blasted and broken, like visiting meteors? Professor Goddard has devoted thought to this detail, so there need be no worry about the rocket and its freight of scientific instruments. Meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere at tremendous speed, which is but little slowed before terra flrma Is touched.

even the deftest of us can throw a cricket ball. One hundred and forty yards is the record distance for throwing a cricket balk A competitor in the Olympic sports has thrown a javelin Just over 211 feet With a sling a stone has been thrown more than 300 yards.

Two Could Play at That.

In Sunday school one day a little boy ran into my son, pushing him flat on the floor. He was most indignant and when he arrived home he told his

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

The rocket ascends to a point of rest; the Instant of time when Its limit of upward motion is reached. From this point it descends, hence would have nothing like the downward velocity of a meteor. Still the fall would be sufficient to do damage, and to obviate this Professor Goddard proposes a parachute which will decrease the velocity as denser air is reached. If the parachute is so large that the velocity will be decreased greatly when the denser air Is reached, the descent will be so slow that finding of the apparatus will not be so easy as would be the case with a more rapid descent. For this reason part of the parachute device must be lost automatically when the apparatus has fallen Into air of a certain density, with additional parachute devices rendered operative as the rocket nears the ground. Such devices have not been fully worked out by Professor Goddard, but he says they would be of simple and light construction. Professor Goddard’s experiments show that the time of ascent of his rocket would be remarkably short. For example, a height of over 230 miles is reached in less than six and one-half minutes. The- reason is, of course, that this form of rocket possesses the advantage of the bullet in attaining a high velocity, with the added advantage of starting gradually from rest. In fact the motion fulfills closely the ideal conditions for extremely rapid transit —namely, starting from rest with the maximum acceleration possible, and reversing this acceleration in direction at the middle of the Journey.

The short time of ascent and descent is, of course, highly advantageous as regards following the apparatus during ascent, and recovering it on landing. The path can be followed by day by the ejection of smoke at intervals, and at night by flashes. Any distinctive feature, as, for example, a long, black streamer, could assist in rendering the instruments visible on the return. Not since the Germans sprung the long-distance gun with which they killed children and women in Paris, by means of a shell fired 72 miles, has the world had so spectacular a proposltfon in the field of explosives presented as that of Professor Goddard’s rocket. It opens fields of speculative thought whose limits are not confined by things terrestrial. What may not be developments to follow on sending of earth’s material to the moon?

Collier Once Battleship.

An unusual-looking collier is plying between Cardiff and Genoa at the present time, says the Pall Mall Gazette of London. It is no other than the old battleship Italia, requisitioned by the Italian government _to carry Welsh coal to its ports. The Italia is doing the Job effectively, though very expensively, since she carries only 7.000 tons, 2.000 of which she consumes herself on her way to Italy. She was launched in 1880, and was then the largest warship in the world. She carried 100 guns, and was able to steam at the then excessive speed of 18% knots. How have the mighty fallen!

grandfather about it. Having tried ip vain XS have the little fellow drink as much * milk as we thought necessary, his grandfather told him the best thing to do would be to drink lots of milk and pretty soon he would grow big and strong so he could push the other boy over. This plan seemed a good one so my son and he was full of excitement for a few moments. But all of a sudden he apparently saw an obstacle to this plan, for be said. “But what if the other boy drinks milk, too?*’—Exchange.

DANDIES OF COLONIAL TIMES

Women in the Country’s Early History Evidently Had No Monopoly of “Fine Feathers.” The gentlemen of a long-past day were not less particular in regard t® their costume than are their successors of the present time, a fact that is manifest from certain records of colonial times. Governor Hutchinson’s order for clothes, sent to London to be filled, is a telltale and instructive paper. We may suppose the garments to have arrived by the time of the Boston niassacre, and can easily guess how the handsome man of fifty-nine must have looked as he schemed and argued against his rebellious people. “Octobers. 1767. To Mr.'Peter Leitch: ‘‘l desire to have* you send me a blue cloth waistcoat trimmed with the same color lined, the skirts and facings with effigeen, and the body linnen to match the last blue cloath I had from you two undpr-wa Istcoats or camisols of warm swahsdown. without sleeves faced with some cheap silk or shagg. A suit of deaths full-trimmed, the- cioath something like the only more of a gray mixture, gold buttons and hole, but little wadding lined with effigeen. “I like a wrought or flowered or embroidered hole something though not exactly like the hole upon the cloaths of which the pattern is incldsed; or if frogs are worn, I think they look well on the coat; but if it be quite irregular, I would have neither one nor the other, but such a hole and button as are worn. I know a laced coat is more the mode, but this is too gay for me. “A pair of wosted breeches to match the color, and a pair of black velvet breeches, the breeches with leather linings. Let them come by the first ship. “P. S. If there be no opportunity before February, omit the camisols. and send a greene waistcoat, the forebodies a strong corded silk —not the cbrduasoy, but looks something like it — the sleeves and bodies sagathee or other thin stuff, body lined wdth linnen, skirts silk. My last cloath* were rather small,in the armholes, but the alterations .must be little, next to nothing.”—Philadelphia Record.

Romance of Diamonds.

Fiction in Its maddest moods never invented romance more bewildering than the stories of the great diamonds of India, says Popular Science Monthly. For these baubles wars have been waged, nations devastated, thrones and dynasties overturned, men slaughtered by tens of thousands. The fame of the Great Mogul lured Nadir Shah to the sack of Delhi. Desire to possess the Koh-i-Noor was woven into the complex motives that led Aurung-zeb to deluge India with blood, slay his three brothers, and dethrone and imprison Shah Jehan, his father. The Orioff. stolen from the eye of a temple idol and sold overseas, was presented to Catherine of Russia by her princely paramour to patch a lovers’ quarrel. Swallowed by a faithful serving man to save it from robbers who slew him, the Sancy was sliced from his stomach th adorn the royal person of Henry of France and Navarre.

Washington as Father of the Navy.

An article in the United States Naval Institute of last December by Edgar Stanton Maclay asked the question, Was George Washington the father of the United States navy? According to this authority, before John Paul Jones or John Barry received their commissions, or, indeed, before congress decided to establish a navy, Washington issued commissions on September 2, 1775, to armed craft for the expressed purpose of catching enemy transports and cruisers. Washington borrowed the armed schooners Lynch and Franklin from Massachusetts, and commissioned them to cruise against the enemy. He also commissioned other armed craft, including the Lee., It was not until October 13th, 1775, that congress appointed its first naval committee, and not until the 13th of December that congress authorized the construction of the first vessels of our navy.—Scientific American.

The Honeymoon Disappearing.

The real, old-fashioned honeymoon, a four weeks’ isolation near some favorite holiday resort seems to be a thing of the past in the old land, says the Montreal Herald. War killed the custom as It has killed many others. What interferes with its re-establish-ment is not only feeling against it as a waste of time, but also the high cost of traveling and the expense of holiday hotels, plus the difficulty of finding quarters. The aspiration of the young people of today is to settle down in the home they have managed, by dint of struggling, to secure, or to set to work to find something nearer the ideal than hotel or boarding-house accommodation. In other cases a week end at the seaside or a few days at a quiet hostelry found and kept secret from others, as a good center for golf and country walks, suffices.

Chemical Glass.

During the last half of the year 1917 we exported glassware for the first time in our history and for 1918 our total production was valued at $2,865,744. more than double what we used when we had to buy it abroad. At the present time glass is imported duty free if it is to be employed for educational purposes; and the state of the domestic glass industry is so good that congress is being urged to withdraw this preference, x

OASTORIA I For Infants and Children. MparTnpiil M °thers Know That MIBBBMi Genuine Castoria Bears the IIfiSBSB Signature/ /Jr of AVIF if & a 4 n> In 1 11 IJI * ” n if Use Lr For Over foe-Simile B (annJra Co*®®®' Thirty Years CASTORIA

SEEKS FOE OF JAP BEETLE

Specialist Has been Detailed to Bring to This Country Enemy of Horticultural Pest. The Japanese beetle Is going to have Its old enemies on its trail In this country. The United States department of agriculture has sent a man to Japan to find those enemies and send them across the ocean. They will then be established In the sections of New Jersey where the beetle has gained a foothold, and they are expected to aid greatly in the control of the pest. The agent employed in Japan Is familiar with Japanese conditions and Is a specialist in this kind of work.. It Is expected that the task will require bls sojourn in Japan for two or three years. While something is known of the parasites of the Japanese beetle i great deal Is still to be learned only ander field conditions where the beetle Ilves with all the enemies that prey upon It. The beetle reached this country with Importations of greenhouse plants, and thus far apparently Pas been compa’atively free from molestations by natural enemies.

Otherwise Content.

“Dat husban’ ob yours,” one colored tvash lady observed to another, over the dividing back fence, “he shore do seem a right contented man." “He would be,” the other responded, •*’Ceptin’ for only two things which troubles him. He has to quit eatin' to sleep, an’ he has to quit sleepin’ to eat.”

Easily Remedied.

“Whom have we here?” said the king of the Cannibal islands as a prisoner In soldier’s uniform was dragged before him. “He appears to be a raw recruit," answered the prime minister. “Very well, cook. him.” A pretty girl doesn’t fully appreciate her beauty unless some .one is constantly reminding her of IL

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GOT MARK TWAIN STIRRED UP

Humorist, Tired of Listening to Series of Remarkable Stories, Rose a to the Occasion. A naval officer said at a banquet In New York: “Some of the war stories that I hear remind me of Mark Twain. Mark, you know, once sat In the smoking room of a steamer and listened for an hour or two to some remarkable lies. Then he drawled: “'Boys, these feats of yours that you’ve been telling about recall an adventure of my own tn Hannibal. There was a fire In Hannibal one night, and old man Hankinson got caught in the fourth story of the burning house. It looked as If he was a goner. None of the ladders was long enough to reach him. The crowd stared at one another with awed eyes. Nobody could think of anything to do. Then all of a sudden, boys, an idea occurred to me. “Fetch me a rope!" I yelled. Somebody fetched a rope, and with great presence of mind I flung the end of it up to the old man. “Tie her round your waist I” I yelled. Old man Hankinson did so and I pulled him down.’ ”

Life's Little Problems.

“George, dear!" began the worried woman. “Yes. wotsit?” grunted George, without looking up from his newspaper. “Would you mind helping me with a little bit of arithmetic?” she pleaded. “Not at all.” “Well, if we pay the new cook the wages she wants will we have enough money left to buy anything for her to cook?” —London Answers.

Sad Confession.

“The officer says you were not parking parallel.” “I—I—” “Don’t you know?” “I can’t be sure.” “What is your business?” “I am a professor of' geometry.”— Louisville Courier-Journal.